Kelsey Ramsden launched Belvedere Place Developments, a construction firm, in 2005 when she was 28 years old. The novelty of a woman running the show in a non-traditional industry drew people to her, she said.
“There’s a little bit of the freak show component, right? Like, wouldn’t you like to meet a 28-year-old girl who’s starting a multi-million-dollar construction company? That sounds interesting,” Ramsden explains with a laugh.
Her company has expanded from a focus on small roadway projects to building large infrastructure, such as bridges. Ramsden’s success as an entrepreneur has blossomed along with the firm. The mother of three now runs multiple businesses, and Chatelaine magazine has named her “Canada’s Number One Female Entrepreneur” two years in a row.
Ramsden is part of a growing number of women running businesses in Canada, and the key to her success lies in her ability to think outside the box. Whether it’s starting a construction company or simply being a female boss, Ramsden doesn’t let other people’s opinions get in her way.
“I think oftentimes things don’t get started by virtue of the fact that you think there’s going to be pushback,” she says. “I’ve never really been one to consider pushback.”
Understanding female leaders
According to Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, the number of female entrepreneurs running non-start-up businesses rose by five percent from the early 90s to 2012.
Still, women run only four percent of medium-sized businesses in Canada, and 13 percent of small businesses. With about 160 employees, Ramsden’s Belvedere Place Developments is considered a medium-
sized business.
“So there’s a gap. But what there also is, is a huge opportunity to educate women, to inspire them and to really empower them,” says Lisa Niemetscheck, general manager at the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE). The British Columbia-based non-profit group aims to help female business owners find success through networking and education.
Female entrepreneurs’ challenges aren’t unique, Niemetscheck says. Limited management experience, a lack of mentorship and a shortage of time stand in the way of success for both female and male entrepreneurs.
In Ramsden’s experience, the fact that women face challenges in the business world means the landscape is changing. Women have broken a glass ceiling and can now face entrepreneurship and its gender stereotypes head-on. Ramsden has had men ask for “the boss,” assuming it’ll be another man, only to find out she’s the boss.
“Things like that, to me, are a part of changing industries. So you can either consider that a negative, or you can consider it a positive because the whole reason why there’s an interaction there is because positive change is being made,” Ramsden explains.
One on hand, being singled out as a female entrepreneur can be frustrating because gender doesn’t determine prosperity in the business world. On the other hand, Ramsden says, female entrepreneurs enjoy benefits their male counterparts don’t.
“Is it a pro or a con to be a woman in business right now? If that’s the question, it’s a PRO—with all three letters capitalized,” she says. Being a woman in business earned her Chatelaine’s recognition two years in a row. “Is there an award that takes the front page of magazines for boys? No!”
Women’s networking groups, like FWE, are another benefit for female business owners. Very rarely do you see male-only networking groups, Ramsden says.
The task lies in making sure everyone’s aware of their potential. “You [women] have just as much capacity and ability. There are women in powerful places—look up!” Ramsden says.
Getting to the top
The now 37-year-old Ramsden also runs SparkPlay, a children’s toy subscription service, and offers business coaching through her website, kelseyramsden.ca.
Combined with the British Columbia-based Belvedere Place Developments, which she manages remotely from London, Ontario, Ramsden has a lot to juggle—and that’s not including her personal life as a wife and mother.
But to Ramsden, success hasn’t come from money, power or owning multiple businesses.
“I wouldn’t say I’m most proud of any one thing. I think I’m most proud of my evolution,” she explains. “I’m most proud of my continuous ability to change and adapt and be ingenious.”
In her early years as an entrepreneur, Ramsden says she strived for
influence and money. As time went on, she realized those elements weren’t enough.
In 2012, only two months after the birth of her third child, Ramsden found out she had cervical cancer.
“You recognize how very insignificant you are quite quickly in the broad scheme of things, and how significant you are on a very small scale—to your children, your spouse, your parents, your brother,” she explains.
Ramsden’s battle with cancer was relatively brief—she beat the disease within a year of being diagnosed—but the experience left a lasting impact on how she manages her life. “I don’t have time to nancy-pants around like I used to. I don’t bother myself with things I can’t change,” she says.
Now, Ramsden makes sure to unplug from electronics when she’s with her children, she reserves time each night to talk to her husband, and she exercises regularly. She’s also rethought her early approach to business.
“Ultimately, what was my original, juvenile definition of success—influence and money—all that does is afford me the freedom to do the things that I do.”
A continuum of learning
Awards and business success aside, Ramsden says she still has a lot to learn. She sees life as a continuum of learning, and tries to discover something new every day.
“I think we can all get a little bit too self-centred. We don’t look up and look at what’s going on around us—to ask, what can I learn about some things that I haven’t learned about before? Or how can I offer what I know to some other people?” she says. “Through that you learn things. By giving, you get.”
Ramsden uses her business mentoring and her experiences giving TEDx talks around the world as an opportunity to learn and connect with people who have fresh outlooks.
She’s launching an online course in September for those starting out as entrepreneurs, and is releasing two books with tips and tricks for success. She offers a free email newsletter subscription through her website in hopes of fostering a community and sharing what she’s learned so far.
Making mistakes has also helped Ramsden along her ongoing path of discovery. “I think if you’ve made no mistakes, odds are you’re probably not trying that hard,” she says. “For me, it’s such a crazy continuum
of mistakes.”
Ramsden holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria and a Master of Business from Western University, but academia was never her strong suit. The mistakes she made at school provided her the best learning experience, she said.
“I had to develop more than a great GPA,” she says. “I recognized the value in things other than other people’s determination of my own value quite early on.”
This realization paved the way to moving past the hurdle of what she calls “legacy thinking”: the idea that women don’t run businesses, or the notion that women must choose between a career and children. It allowed her to build businesses based on her own values: adventure, creativity and family.
Advice for female entrepreneurs
Ramsden has two tips for women who run businesses: network with women and men, and build trusting relationships.
“The fundamental piece of all transactions is trust. It takes time to build that,” she says.
In Niemetscheck’s experience as manager of FWE, she’s also seen the importance of networking. Finding a mentor and learning the basics of business is also crucial to entrepreneurial success, she says.
“It is a huge benefit to women entrepreneurs to be able to talk about their challenges with others,” Niemetscheck explains. “And often they’ll walk away from a conversation thinking, ‘I can conquer this and it’s not as tough as I thought it was.’ ”
For Ramsden, a key component to business lies in self-trust.
“You’re never ready,” she says with a laugh. “We always allow that sense of readiness to hold us back and I think we should make it okay to kind of be not ready, because I believe that’s when the best results happen.” for more info, check out avant career
